The Network Composition of Aggregate Unemployment

We develop a theory of unemployment in which workers search for jobs through a network of firms, the labor flow network (LFN). The lack of an edge between two companies indicates the impossibility of labor flows between them due to high frictions. In equilibrium, firms' hiring behavior correlates through the network, modulating labor flows and generating aggregate unemployment. This theory provides new micro-foundations for the aggregate matching function, the Beveridge curve, wage dispersion, and the employer-size premium. Using employer-employee matched records, we study the effect of the LFN topology through a new concept: `firm-specific unemployment'

Tuning Spin Hall Angles by Alloying

Within a combined experimental and theoretical study it is shown that the spin Hall angle of a substitutional alloy system can be continuously varied via its composition. For the alloy system AuxPt1-x a substantial increase of the maximum spin Hall angle compared to the pure alloy partners could be achieved this way. The experimental findings for the longitudinal charge conductivity sigma, the transverse spin Hall conductivity sigma(SH), and the spin Hall angle alpha(SH) could be confirmed by calculations based on Kubo's linear response formalism. Calculations of these response quantities for different temperatures show that the divergent behavior of sigma and sigma(SH) is rapidly suppressed with increasing temperature. As a consequence, sigma(SH) is dominated at higher temperatures by its intrinsic contribution that has only a rather weak temperature dependence

Foldable antibacterial acrylic intraocular lenses of high refractive index

Hydrophilic copolymers with high refractive index and bactericide properties based on quaternary ammonium salts monomers and methacrylates bearing benzothiazole moieties have been developed for application as foldable intraocular lenses. Composition of the systems was adjusted to get materials with optimized flexibility, wettability, and refractive properties. All the materials have been characterized in terms of optical properties, glass transition temperature, water content, and wettability. Water contact values oscillated between 37 and 15% and refractive index values in the wet state between 1.49 and 1.53, depending on composition. Glass transition temperature interval was 63-77 °C. Values of surface free energy of the solid ranged from 49 to 54 mN/m, characteristic of IOL hydrogel materials. Bactericide properties of the quaternary ammonium salts methacrylates were higher than that of the benzothiazole derivative, showing inhibition halos as high as 23-25 mm in antibiogram tests against S. epidermidis and P. aeruginosa, strains found in the ocular cavity and responsible for most postsurgical endolphthalmitis. Biocompatibility of the systems was evaluated in cell cultures using human fibroblasts. Cellular viability was higher than 90%, and close to 100% in many cases, for the extracts of selected formulations collected at different periods of timeThis research was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PSE-300100-2006-1 and MAT2007-63355)Peer reviewe

Spin Hall voltages from a.c. and d.c. spin currents

In spin electronics, the spin degree of freedom is used to transmit and store information. To this end the ability to create pure spin currents—that is, without net charge transfer—is essential. When the magnetization vector in a ferromagnet–normal metal junction is excited, the spin pumping effect leads to the injection of pure spin currents into the normal metal. The polarization of this spin current is time-dependent and contains a very small d.c. component. Here we show that the large a.c. component of the spin currents can be detected efficiently using the inverse spin Hall effect. The observed a.c.-inverse spin Hall voltages are one order of magnitude larger than the conventional d.c.-inverse spin Hall voltages measured on the same device. Our results demonstrate that ferromagnet–normal metal junctions are efficient sources of pure spin currents in the gigahertz frequency range